Oxford Philharmonic
A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION WITH JOHN RUTTER
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
Thursday, 7.30pm
Tickets: 01865 980980 or www.oxfordphil.com
Highly-respected conductor and composer John Rutter joins the Oxford Philharmonic to conduct his own Visions, a celebration of heavenly peace, alongside Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols and other carols by Bob Chilcott, Peter Warlock, John Rutter and many more. Featuring Roderick Williams (baritone), Natalia Lomeiko (violin) and the choirs of Magdalen College and New College.
Citizens Advice Oxford
CITIZENS CHRISTMAS
Christ Church Cathedral
Thursday, 8pm
Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com
Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line, Mr Bean) is the special guest at this charity Christmas concert, which is hosted by Radio Oxford’s Kat Orman and also features Britain’s Got Talent finalists Out of the Blue, an all-male a cappella choir, and the cathedral’s newest choir, Frideswide Voices of Christ Church. Expect lots of festive music and the chance to sing along to favourite carols. Proceeds will go to Citizens Advice Oxford, the city’s most well-used charity.
Jubilate! Chamber Choir
A ROSE E’ER BLOOMING
Keble College Chapel
Friday, 7.30pm
Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com
James Morley Potter conducts a selection of music associated with Mary, the ‘mystic rose’, from the Renaissance to the present day, including pieces by Parsons, Mouton, Howells, Bruckner, Villette, Berkeley, Cooke, Lane, Pärt and Sandström. The concert will also include the world premiere of Rorate, caeli, desuper! by Charles West, winner of Jubilate’s recent carol competition.
Woodstock Music Society Choir and Chamber Orchestra
St Cecilia Mass
St Mary Magdalene Church, Park Street, Woodstock
Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm
Tickets 01993 812760 or by email at concerts@woodstockmusic.info
Soprano Helen Lacey, tenor Joseph Buckmaster and bass Richard Weston are conducted by Paul Ingram as Woodstock Music Society Choir and Chamber Orchestra embark on St Cecilia Mass and Méditation, Fauré’s Dolly Suite and Debussy’s Marche Écossaise.
Witney Music Society
CLARE HAMMOND, PIANO
High Street Methodist Church, Witney
Friday, 7.30pm
Tickets: www.witneymusicsociety.org.uk
If you want a break from all the seasonal fare on offer, head to Witney to hear piano virtuoso Clare Hammond – acclaimed by The Telegraph for her “amazing power and panache” – in a programme consisting of Bach’s Toccata in D minor BWV 913, Myslivecek’s Sonata No.3 in A major, Schumann’s Humoreske Op.20, Szymanowski’s Variations on a Polish Theme Op.10 and Rachmaninov’s Sonata No.2 in B flat minor Op.36 (1931 revised version).
Kennington & District United Church Choirs
GILBERT & SULLIVAN: THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD
Kennington Methodist Church
Friday, 7.30pm
Admission free
If you missed last week’s performance of this classic Savoy opera, with conductor Trevor Cowlett, here’s another chance to catch it. There will be a collection for Action for Children.
Music at Oxford
CHRISTMAS AT CHRIST CHURCH
Christ Church Cathedral
Friday & Wednesday, 8pm
Tickets: 01865 244806 or www.musicatoxford.com
Now a much-loved Oxford Christmas tradition, this annual feast of popular carols, festive readings and glorious singing from the choir is not to be missed. This year’s special guests are Antonia Christophers (Game of Thrones, Higher Education, The Hour) and Noel Byrne (Dr Who, The Real Dick Turpin), and Steven Grahl conducts. Tickets always sell quickly for these events, so don’t delay!
Opera Anywhere
AMAHL & THE NIGHT VISITORS
Cokethorpe School
Saturday, 3pm
Tickets: www.operaanywhere.com
Menotti’s poignant, heart-warming Christmas opera has become a staple of Opera Anywhere’s repertoire and is always a special treat. Originally written for television in 1951, the opera tells the story of the crippled shepherd boy, Amahl, whose life is changed forever when three kings knock on the door one night on their way to visit baby Jesus. This performance is part of the Cokethorpe Opera Festival, launched earlier this year.
Opus 48
FAMILY CHRISTMAS CAROLS
University Church of St Mary the Virgin
Saturday, 5.30pm
Tickets: www.opus48choir.co.uk/concerts
Following a sell-out concert of a cappella music at the SJE recently, Opus 48 now gets into the Christmas spirit with this family-friendly selection of seasonal favourites in aid of the Stroke Association. David Crown conducts.
Orchestra of St John’s
CHRISTMAS CAROLS
Dorchester Abbey
Saturday, 7.30pm
Tickets: www.osj.org.uk
OSJ Ashmolean Voices performs a selection of traditional carols and lesser-known festive fare, from Coventry Carol and Away in a Manger to Britten’s Hymn to the virgin and Laurisden’s O magnum, conducted by John Lubbock. Special guests, the Shillingford & Warborough Community Choir, conducted by Christine Cairns, perform seasonal favourites Ding Dong Merrily On High, When a Child was Born and The Twelve Days of Christmas. Proceeds to Clear Sky, a local charity supporting children who have suffered trauma.
Oxford Coffee Concerts
PIATTI STRING QUARTET
Holywell Music Room, Oxford
Sunday, 11.15am
Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com
One of the UK’s most distinguished chamber groups, the prize-winning Piatti String Quartet returns to Oxford to perform Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale ‘St Wenceslas’ and Schubert’s String Quartet No.15 in G Major Op.161 D887. With Nathaniel Anderson-Frank (violin), Michael Trainor (violin) Tetsuumi Nagata (viola) and Jessie Ann Richardson (cello).
Abbey Chamber Concerts
PAVLOVA WIND ENSEMBLE
St Helen’s Church, Abingdon
Sunday, 3pm
Tickets: www.abbeychamberconcerts.org or on the door
Enjoy a selection of music orchestrated for wind ensemble and conducted by Robin O’Neill, principal bassoon of the Philharmonia, including Bartok Magyar Suite No.1, Debussy Preludes, Gershwin Preludes, Mozart King Thamos Intermezzo and Ravel Pavane. With Chris Britton and Rosie Callaghan (flute), Wendy Marks and Carolyn King (oboe), Barbara Stuart, Malcolm Sadler and Jonathan Howse (clarinet), Robert Sales (bass clarinet), Simon Payne and William Grainger (bassoon), Chris Grosvenor (contra) and Sam Dunwoody, Frances Jones, Paul Willett and Jenny Steele (horn).
Oxford Pro Musica Singers
A CHRISTMAS CRACKER
Keble College, Oxford
Sunday, 5pm
Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com
Tickets always sell quickly for OPMS’s annual Christmas concert, a blend of traditional carols, festive choral music, audience singalongs and seasonal readings. With conductor Mark Jordan.
City of Oxford Orchestra
TRADITIONAL CHIRSTMAS CAROL CONCERT
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
Sunday, 7pm
Tickets: 01865 744457 or www.cityofoxfordorchestra.co.uk
Always a fun occasion, the COO’s traditional Christmas concert will really put you in the festive mood. From Handel’s Zadok the Priest, Berlioz’s Shepherds’ Farewell and Darke’s In the Bleak Midwinter to jolly numbers such as Blake’s The Snowman, Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, Pierpont’s Jingle Bells and Christmas Cracker with the Onyx Brass band, not to mention Christmas carols for choir and audience, this is a non-stop feast of seasonal delights. The orchestra is joined by Oxford City Choir, chamber choir Cantores and the Chapel Choir of St Helen and St Katherine School, with conductor Jacques Cohen. Tickets are selling fast!
vOx Chamber Choir
A CEREMONY OF CAROLS
St John the Evangelist, Iffley Road
Sunday, 7.30pm
David Crown conducts this acclaimed a cappella chamber choir in Benjamin Britten’s glorious A Ceremony of Carols, written in 1942 when Britten was returning to Britain from the United States. Originally intended as separate, stand-alone songs, it became a unified whole framed by the Gregorian chant-inspired Hodie Christus natus est. Britten scored the piece for children’s voices initially, but after its premiere at the Wigmore Hall in December 1943 he wrote an SATB version. The piece will be performed alongside other season choral works.
Music in Adderbury
ADDERBURY ENSEMBLE/VIV MCLEAN
St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Kings Sutton
Sunday, 7.30pm
Tickets: 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com
The pairing of the Adderbury Ensemble and pianist Viv Mclean is always one worth catching if you can, especially in the lovely setting of this 14th century church. The programme includes Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op.1 No.2 and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor.
OSJ Ashmolean Voices
CHRISTMAS CAROLS – OSJ ASHMOLEAN PROM
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Sunday, 7.30pm
Tickets: www.osj.org.uk
The OSJ’s Christmas concert at the Ashmolean is a lovely annual tradition. Enjoy a varied selection of carols, motets and other seasonal classics, from the familiar to the unfamiliar, including pieces by Sweelinck, Warlock, Kodaly, Praetorius, Leighton, Poulenc, Victoria, Gjeilo, Britten, Laurisden and many more. With conductor John Lubbock.
Opera Anywhere
HANSEL AND GRETEL
Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon
Wednesday, 6pm
Tickets: www.operaanywhere.com
If you haven’t yet had a chance to catch this new production of Humperdinck’s classic fairytale opera, here’s an opportunity to see it in the cosy intimacy of Abingdon’s Unicorn Theatre. There’s also a special ‘Meet the team’ event at 6.30pm the night before at the R&R Café in Abingdon, where you can hear some of the music from the opera and listen to director Serenna Wagner explain her concept behind the production – as well as enjoying some culinary treats from R&R’s festive menu!
NICOLA LISLE
